for all that we've got, don't let go
by MaioribusSpes
Summary: An encounter with an equalist goes terribly wrong, and Mako will do anything to make sure that Korra doesn't slip through his fingers. Anything. / "If I have to get my leg sliced open everytime you want to make a move, I'm afraid we won't get very far, Mr. Hat Trick." Makorra, Book One verse.


**Disclaimer: Yooo I don't own anything **

**Title taken from the song "Eavesdrop" by The Civil Wars (go listen to it right now, along with everything they have ever made, okay?)**

* * *

_i can't pull you closer than this  
it's just you and the moon on my skin  
oh who says it ever has to end_

* * *

It was stupid of them, really, to think they could charge head first into attack without any plan at all.

(It was stupid of them, really, but he wouldn't have expected anything less with Korra by his side.)

They had seen just one equalist, nothing they couldn't handle, but they hadn't even considered the fact that that one equalist could be leading them into a trap.

(And suddenly one turned into twenty and they were surrounded and it didn't matter that she was the Avatar and he was a champion probender because there were too many and they couldn't possible take down all of them.)

But they had almost. They had _almost_ defeated them all, but the last one standing was a smart one and played dirty, and he had a knife. Korra had dodged when she noticed it coming down on her, ready to sink into her flesh, but he had still succeeded in slashing her thigh open.

And now here they were, alone in an abandoned warehouse with nowhere to go.

Korra hissed out in pain as she tried to stand up, clutching at her wound, and Mako was almost vomited when she pulled her hand back and it was covered in red.

"Are you an idiot?" Mako cried out in disbelief, rushing over to ease her onto the ground. He took of his scarf and wrapped it around her gash, tryiing his best to ignore her whimpers of pain at the contact.

"Mako," she told him, "get out of here. Go get some help."

"No," Mako protested, shaking his head. "No way in hell. I'm not leaving you here."

Korra had actually laughed at that, even though the blood was already starting to soak through the fabric of his scarf and her head was starting to pound.

"I'm not a damsel in distress," she told him.

Mako rolled his eyes.

"No, you're not," he confirmed. "You're an idiot." He grabbed her from behind at her elbows, dragging her so that she could sit against a wall.

"I thought it was the other way around. I'm the Avatar, and _you're _the idiot." Korra weakly smiled, the humor not quite reaching her eyes. Mako felt a strong urge to punch that dumb smile off her face (how could she be joking around when she was bleeding to death right in front of him?), but decided against it and instead slipped out of his jacket and covered her body with it.

Her skin was cool and clammy to the touch, and the rise and fall of her chest was too slow and her breaths came out too weak, too shallow.

"Oh, spirits, Korra," Mako said, his usual cool-under-fire attitude beginning to slip. "You can't - you can't black out, okay? Promise me that you won't, no matter how heavy your eyes feel or how tired you get."

"Should I really make a promise I'm not sure I can keep?"

"_Dammit_,_ Korra_," he hissed. "You have to stay awake. I'm not giving you a choice."

"So bossy," Korra told him, then fumbled around and folded her arms underneath her chest. "Still cold," she mumbled.

Forgetting the voice in the back of his head that told him _no, this was an awful idea_, Mako carefully slid into the space between her back and the wall, so that she was in front of him, sitting between his legs.

"Don't get any ideas," he murmured, trying to concentrate on the fact that he was doing this to keep her alive, not for his own benefit.

(But as he wrapped his arms around her waist he couldn't help but marvel at the feel of her body against his.)

"If I have to get my leg sliced open everytime you want to make a move, I'm afraid we won't get very far, Mr. Hat Trick." She chuckled softly, but the laugh soon turned into a violent cough, and her body spasmed against his.

He quieted her and rubbed circles into her back until her coughs died down, and by then she was so weak she collapsed against him.

"We had a good run, didn't we?" Korra said quietly, her eyelids heavy.

Mako's body stilled.

"Don't say that," he said, his throat tight. "Don't talk like that."

"I'm dying, Mako," Korra stated bluntly. She was never one to sugarcoat the truth.

"_Don't talk like that_," he repeated, trying to swallow the lump growing in his throat. "You're not going to die. Not while I'm around."

(There was so much that he hadn't told her, hadn't done with her, so much time he hadn't spent with her and so many moments that he hadn't shared with her and he wasn't going to let her die, not when there were so many things unsaid.)

"It's dark," she stated, her voice weak.

"Dammit, Korra, I told you to _stay awake_," he hissed. He watched as she blinked and closed her eyes for too long.

"Hey, hey, don't do that," he warned, softly hitting her cheek to keep her awake. "Come on, stay awake. Help is going to come any minute now."

(He said the latter more for his own benefit.)

When she didn't respond, Mako decided that desperate times called for desperate measures.

(This was a bad idea, he was going to regret this later on, but she was slowly slipping out of grasp and he couldn't - wouldn't - let her go.)

He exhaled and maneuvered his body around her so that her back was against the wall and he was facing her, careful not to let his legs brush against hers as he straddled her hips, trying not to think twice about the compromising position.

And then, taking a deep breath in, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips against hers.

The effect wasn't immediate. His hands moved behind her head to support it, and he stayed there for a while, just his lips unmoving on hers before he felt movement against them, and he pulled back.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized, his cheeks already red. "I shouldn't have done that, taking advantage of you like that-"

"If you don't kiss me again, I'm going to faint." Korra's voice was barely above a whisper.

Mako swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded, following her orders.

(This wasn't exactly how he had planned their first kiss. But then again, when it came to _them_, things never went according to plan.)

She moved her lips against his as much as her body would allow, which wasn't much, but it was enough to keep her awake right now and that was all that really mattered.

(And he had finally kissed her, even though it had taken her getting her leg sliced open for it to happen.)

And then the soft pressure against his lips disappeared and the sides of his waist tingled where Korra's hands had rested.

"Korra? Korra," Mako said, pressing his thumb against her cheek.

(Her eyes were closed and her body was limp and he screamed.)

"Wake up, come on," he pleaded, shaking her gently.

"_Come on, Korra, just wake up, dammit_," he begged, even though she couldn't hear him.

(There was so much that he hadn't told her and they had just shared their first kiss and she had been half conscious and now she felt too lifeless and this wasn't fair-)

Suddenly the room filled with light and a crowd of people burst in, one of them being Bolin.

"Spirits, what happened to you guys? I got a little worried when you didn't come home and-"

"Korra," Mako choked out. "Korra, help Korra, she needs help right now-"

"_Ohmy-_ Mako? Is she...?" A group of people in blue uniforms picked her slack body up and placed her on a stretcher and Mako was absolutely positive he was going to be sick any minute.

"_No, _she _can't_ be." He tried to blink back the tears gathering in his eyes, but they fell anyways, and he watched as a drop fell to the ground.

"Hey, I'm sure she'll be okay," Bolin said, his voice soft as he put a hand on his brother's shoulder.

(But Mako knew that even Bolin didn't believe his own words, and he hadn't seen her, bloody and weak and in pain, hadn't felt her body go slack underneath his-)

He swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah. I'm sure she will."

* * *

Night had slowly blended into day and the sun was high in the air when the healers came out of the room.

Mako and Bolin bolted up from their seats. They were exhausted, but neither of them could sleep.

"How is she?" They asked simultaneously.

"Is she going to be okay?" Bolin wondered.

"How bad is it?" Mako demanded, always expecting the worst.

The aging lady at the front of the group smiled softly and patted their hands.

"She's going to be just fine," she told them, and the brothers let out a sigh of relief.

"You can go visit her, if you'd like," she said. "She should be waking up soon."

"Spirits, thank you so much," Bolin said, and she, along with the three other people standing behind her, nodded.

"Take care of yourselves!" she shouted, as the two ran in the direction of Korra's room.

* * *

Korra looked uncharacteristically peaceful while lying on the white hospital bed.

Her hair had been taken out of her signature ponytail and was loose, surrounding her face and softening her features.

(She had never looked more beautiful.)

Mako sat down in the seat to the left of her, while Bolin took the seat on the right.

Timidly, Mako reached out for Korra's hand, covering it with his palm. He bit his lip and looked up at his brother, who was examining him with a small smile.

"So what happened back there, huh?" he questioned.

"I kissed her," Mako choked out, his voice scratchy. Bolin's eyes grew wide and he slowly grinned from ear to ear.

"Took you long enough," he told Mako, who scowled at him.

He felt Korra's hand move beneath his and her lip twitched.

"Korra-"

"It was awful," she joked, chuckling as Bolin enveloped her into a crushing hug.

She glanced up at Mako and gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand as Bolin let her go and sat back down in his chair.

"I'm so glad that you're alright, Korra, gosh," Bolin told her, then, noticing the glances Mako and Korra were exchanging, he slowly stood up from his seat and headed towards the door.

"Okay then, I'm just going to-" He took a step sideways, then another, "-go. I'll be outside the door so I'llbeabletohearyoujustkeepthatinmindbye!"

The door slammed shut rather violently, echoing throughout the room.

Mako and Korra looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments before Korra smiled and both of them burst out into laughter.

And then their laughter slowly dissipated and they were left in silence, staring at the walls.

"Um, I-" Mako coughed and cleared his throat, then started over again. "I'm really glad you're okay."

"Aw, did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?" Korra asked, sliding her hand out from under his and using it to swat his arm.

Mako was silent.

(She hadn't seen her leg, how mangled and bloody it had been, or felt how lifeless her body had been against his.)

"Hey, it's alright," Korra told him, patting his hand. "I'll always be reincarnated, right?"

Mako's mouth opened and he stared at her in disbelief.

"How can you- how can you even _say_ that?" he asked her. "Here you are, barely surviving a brush with death, and you- you're talking about dying like it's nothing?"

"Mako, it's not like I actually _died_-"

"I sure as hell thought you did!" he shouted, and he didn't give a damn if Bolin or the entire hospital could hear him. "When you passed out, I was almost sure that you were dead, and it- it scared the living shit out of me, okay? So don't joke around about death like that because I've had enough people I love die already, and-"

He stopped, realizing what he had just confessed.

(Shitshitshitshit how could he be so stupid, and reckless-)

"You _love_ me?" Korra asked, her voice soft.

(He wanted to scream. Scream at the top of his lungs and grab her by the shoulders and kiss her and tell her _yes, _he _did_ love her, she drove him absolutely out of his mind and how couldn't she see-)

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah," he told her, avoiding making eye contact. "Yeah. I guess I do."

(She was silent, and he was sure she was disgusted with him. How on earth could _he_, a lowly orphan raised on stolen food and illegal money, possibly think that he was worthy of _her, _the _Avatar_?)

"I love you too," she whispered.

He looked up at her, his eyes blazing, and saw her own, azure and lively and bursting with _her_, and she had never looked so alive and he had never _felt_ so alive.

"Are you an _idiot_?" Was his response.

She scoffed at him.

"I think _you're_ still the idiot here, because it's been about fifteen seconds since we both confessed our love for each other, and you still haven't kissed me yet."

"And I am _not_ getting my leg slashed open again," she added.

In a matter of milliseconds, he was leaning over her in a position that was eerily similar to the one they had been in a few hours ago, but _now_ she was fully alert, aware of everything happening.

"Let's see if my kissing is so awful now," he breathed in her ear, moving down and brushing his lips over hers.

She growled and grabbed the back of his head, her fingers knotted in his hair, and shoved him closer.

He grunted in surprise and moved his arms to steady himself, while Korra moved her lips against his at a different angle, and _spirits wow that felt so good_.

They pulled apart for air, both panting hard.

"See? It's not so awful when you're fully conscious," Mako told her in between breaths.

"There's always room for improvement," Korra replied, tugging at his shirt and bringing his lips crashing back down on hers.

* * *

_fin._

* * *

**A/N: I was originally going to end this with Korra dying and all my typical angsty stuff, you know, but you can thank Maria for wanting a happy ending. I'm quite satisfied with how this turned out, actually! I'm still in the middle of finishing up **_**things we lost in the fire**_** (which you should totally go read and review okay), but this idea wouldn't leave me alone. Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews keep me going, buddies!**


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